Joindre
by Mehetabelo
Summary: Gabrielle Delacour has decided she's going to find someone she's had a crush on since she was a little girl. Harry Potter, who has left the magical world to be the closest thing to a muggle he can be, is in for some trouble now.
1. Aperçus

Joindre

Chapter 01

• Aperçus •

Gabrielle Delacour had everything. Well, almost everything. She turned, the lights of the camera's flashing around her, and wondered as she smiled, if having everything was what she wanted. She smiled brighter, swung her hips and then flipped her leg over the fake fence that she had been modeling against. She sat down directly on it, and as uncomfortable as it was, she knew that it would be one of the better photographs.

It was at that moment she decided she was going to do something she'd wanted to do for a long, long time.

_Four months later..._

Nervously Gabrielle stepped out of the car. Her driver had missed the house, but she didn't mind, she'd sent him forward, stopping him near the park instead. It wasn't too far off, and she wasn't wearing heals, so it'd be a good walk.

She looked at the empty park and wondered what was so special about it, it was ransacked, a single rusted swing creaked in the breeze. Paint had been sprayed on the sidewalks and the bars, and there was nothing that looked remotely clean. But, it made her smile. There was a feeling here, something she did not look past. He had been here many times, she could feel it in her very bones.

Perhaps today would be the day that changed her life.

She nodded to the driver, who reluctantly stepped on the gas and rolled down the street until he disappeared around the corner.

Turning back to the park for a moment, she smiled and walked down the street, swaying to a tune that few could hear.

Ten minutes later she came to a stop in front of the house she'd been looking for. She stared at it for a long time, wondering how this could be his house, how someone like Harry could have ever lived there. However, she was determined to find the answer, and so she soon found herself knocking on the door.

There was a commotion inside, she couldn't make out everything, but she was sure there was a female voice yelling for someone named 'Studley' to open the door, of course she could be wrong. Could Harry be called Studley? She grinned at the thought. The stained glass window darkened, but it was too dark for Gabrielle to make out, she was sure that the window was designed that way, but then, it was much darker inside than it was outside.

The doorknob turned, and the door swung open. She smiled as brightly as possible, hoping it would be Harry to open the door. The fact that there was a woman in there didn't make her happy, but she supposed that she could deal with it as long as he wasn't directly mated, or _married_ as humans tended to call it.

When the light filtered in on the person who had opened the door, Gabrielle almost didn't catch the gasp of shock.

"Hello," the man who answered the door said. She was surprised that he could even speak at all.

"Bon jour," she said, forgetting her English momentarily.

The voice finally seemed to leave the man standing in front of her. She heard something else behind him and a hand managed to slip between the man and the wall to try and pull him out of the way. When that didn't work the door opened all the way, to barely reveal a second figure peaking around the massive man in front of her.

There was a little yelp from the woman and Gabrielle was surprised to here her speak her name.

"Miss Bontecou," the woman said, frantically trying to shove the younger man out of the way.

Gabrielle smiled as best as possible at the woman, trying to keep from frowning. This might be a little easier now, but difficult in other ways since the woman recognized her from some spread. She really, really hoped this was going to be worth it, she could already feel the man's leering gaze bearing down on her and she had specifically repressed her charm because there were muggles around.

"I am sorry," she said in reply to the woman, speaking English very carefully "I was looking for Number Four Privet Drive. Am I mistaken?"

"No, no," the woman said gleefully, "come in, come in."

Gabrielle wasn't sure if she should, but the neighborhood was a muggle one, and muggles didn't really worry her, even fantastically stupid ones that thought with things other than their head.

The man at the door backed away slowly, his eyes never leaving her body, and Gabrielle had a hard time not glowering at him. She knew what his mind was thinking, many people thought it, but at least they were not so obvious about it.

Once the oaf had moved, the woman gestured for her to come in, then peaked out the door and looked both directions, as if expecting someone else. When no one was there she just stepped back and gestured a second time for Gabrielle to enter.

"Zis..." she said, and then took a deep breath, calming herself. "This is the Dursley home?" she said carefully, double checking to insure she was at the right place.

"Oh! I've forgotten my manners, of course, of course," the woman said fretfully fast. "I am Petunia, Petunia Dursley. This is my son, Dudley."

Dudley, not Studley. Gabrielle almost laughed because of how ironic her thoughts had been. Dudley Dursley was anything but a stud.

Accepting that she at least had some information correct, Gabrielle decided to step in and see where this path led. She had been trying to track down Harry for quite a long time, and there had been absolutely no information left on where he'd been heading, or what he was planning on doing.

She had eventually, with some of her mothers influence on one of the English ministry officials, been able to get an address for Harry's muggle relatives, and she had hoped that she would be able to find him nearby, or even that he kept in contact with them. For some reason she was beginning to dread even approaching the house. As she stepped in there was a short shocking flash of deep cold, but it melted away quickly. At that moment she almost decided to leave, and try and discover if Harry had left any other clues. However, she knew that this was it, and if she didn't find anything here, she wasn't going to find anything anywhere else.

The room was almost cold and rigid. It didn't seem that way, but her Veela senses were quite strong and she picked up things muggles couldn't sense. She glanced around immediately, picking up on pictures of the family, and a third man, who must be Mr. Dursley, but there was a figure suspiciously absent.

Perhaps she'd been wrong. But, why would someone put Harry Potters last known residence as this place? And name them his last of kin? Perhaps he'd only been around for a short time before he disappeared. Very little was known about Harry when he wasn't saving the world, everything was kept in locked drawers and no one spoke about it.

"Can I get you anything?" Petunia Dursley asked quickly, leading her to a very stiff looking couch.

Gabrielle took her seat before answering, and glanced around, finally finding the words. "Yes please," she said carefully, "tea would be wonderful."

"Dudley, you look after Ms. Bontecou while I'm making tea, don't let her feel uncomfortable," Petunia Dursley said before disappearing out the doorway.

That was a joke, the moment Gabrielle stepped through the door she'd felt uncomfortable. However, one of her jobs in life was to deal with people , and she had become quite good at it.

"So... Dudley, do you live here, or are you visiting?"

"I... have place... of my own..." he said, barely able to talk straight. Maybe he was trying to decide why she was talking to him at all.

"Is it near?" she asked conversationally, and noticed the look she got. It clicked how wrong it was to ask, and she decided she was going to get straight to the point before she had to do something painful to Dudley Dursley to snap him back to his senses.

Luckily enough Petunia Dursley returned with some hot tea and some biscuits.

Finally, now that Petunia Dursley had returned, Gabrielle refocused. She was here for a reason, and she needed to get that out of the way before anything else. Especially if she had to leave.

"Mrs. Dursley," Gabrielle said, looking away from Dudley Dursley. "I was wondering if you would answer a few questions I have." Petunia Dursley positively glowed and Gabrielle wondered why.

"I would be delighted to Ms. Bontecou. Ask me anything you like, and please, call me Petunia, no need for formalities."

Gabrielle didn't really care to call the woman anything, but she nodded. "Alright Petunia. I don't know if this will make very much sense, showing up here and..."

"Oh, it makes perfect sense! When I applied for that contest I never really thought I was going to win. I'll have to call all my friends and let them know that..."

"Contest Mrs... Petunia?"

"The one in Elle, it was about seven months ago."

Gabrielle sighed. This was going to be even more difficult, she really hoped that she was at the right place. "Petunia, I am not here because of a contest. My reasons are much more personal."

Petunia Dursley stared, slightly confused, and then glanced between her son and Gabrielle. There seemed to be some sort of connection in her eyes, and Gabrielle tried not to yell at her for being dimwitted.

"When I was younger I met a young man by the name of Harry Potter..."

The feeling of ice returned again, but this one was stronger, like someone had enclosed her in a coffin of ice. It wasn't coming from the house this time, but instead from the two people in the room with her. And, it was quite obvious that they knew who he was. However, it was just as obvious that she wasn't going to get anywhere with questions. They hated Harry, for reasons she could not fathom. Harry didn't do anything wrong, even when he was wrong, it always ended up for the better.

"Harry is dead," Petunia said coldly.

Gabrielle stared at Petunia Dursley for a moment, surprised at the ferociousness hidden behind her smooth tone.

"I am knowing..." Gabrielle paused, trying not to explode at the outright lie. The fact that they disrespected Harry's name wasn't going over well with her. "...this is a lie. Harry is very much alive. He would not die after everything he has done."

Petunia Dursley's eyes widened, and her demeanor, not just her feeling's was very much colder than it had been moments before. "You're one of _them_," she spat.

"I do not understand," Gabrielle returned, glancing towards the other occupant of the room. She'd been ignoring Dudley Dursley until now, but his surprise was apparent, because he slipped off the couch, which he'd been leaning forward on, and bounced on the floor.

"You're a... w... w... You're like him. With that foolish... stuff."

"You mean magic?" Gabrielle asked, even more confused. Both the woman in front of her and the man on the ground gasped as if she'd said something forbidden. "You don't like magic?" Gabrielle continued, unsure of what it was that was going wrong with the scene. Could Harry have really grown up in a house like this?

"You are!" Petunia Dursley exclaimed. "You are one of _them._ I don't believe I was fooled by your normal act. Dudley close your mouth. _Ms._ Bontecou is leaving. Now."

"I'm sorry," Gabrielle said, trying to prevent herself from reaching for her wand and hexing them to trout and then letting the neighborhood cats at them. "But I am wanting any information you are having on Harry."

"We don't know anything about him. He left and swore he'd never return," she snapped.

With that information, Gabrielle decided it was best to leave. She stood, to have Dudley Dursley reach out his fat hand, offering to escort her out she assumed. Somehow she'd missed him getting back to his feet, which must have been quite a feat.

"No thank you," she said as politely as possible. "I can find my way out."

Gabrielle moved so fast that they couldn't follow her and she was standing at the door. "I'll just excuse myself," she said before trotting down the steps and slipping into a car that was waiting for her.

Several minutes later another figure appeared at the end of the street next to a shadowy alleyway. Nothing else on the street was at all disturbed, in fact, as always, it was perfectly normal. Grimacing, Harry stepped forward. He certainly didn't want to have to talk to his relatives.

Smoothing out his slacks, he moved forward quickly. He was in a hurry, but it was his fault that the Dursley's may be in danger, so it was his duty to insure their safety. He hoped the wards that had gone off were an accident, or just someone magical that didn't know it. He would hate to have to deal with reporters finding them. Still, as muggle as he pretended to be, he had never put off magic.

The street looked exactly the same as it had the day he left, the yards perfectly manicured, the houses perfectly kept. Perhaps it had been a mistake, but he couldn't leave without making sure. As much as he hated the Dursley's he couldn't live with the knowledge he had caused them pain, it was one of his failings.

Without even bothering to knock, Harry stepped into the house. He was surprised to find Aunt Petunia and Dudley sitting in the living room, Petunia scolding him for something. Harry almost turned and disappeared before they saw him. He was, after all, not welcome in the home. Petunia noticed him though, and stopped her snipping to stare. "_You!" _she shrieked, waving a magazine she had in her hand. "You're the cause of all this strangeness!"

"Hello Aunt Petunia, it's been a while," Harry said as cheerfully as possible. It had been a while, several years in fact. He'd gotten over the childhood fears, and was as scared of them as a mouse scared a snake. "I wonderfully long while actually, but I'm only visiting to see how things are going and make sure you're all right. I understand that someone visited you recently, and I just needed to make sure they had no ill-intentions."

"Ill intentions!" shrieked his aunt. "That _thing_ did ma... ma..."

"Magic, Aunt Petunia?"

"Yes, that, on Poor Dudders. He's absolutely gobsmacked and can't think of anything but her."

"A woman?" Harry asked, surprised. He'd had some dedicated fans, some who'd offered to be whatever he wanted, but no one had ever been able to track him down in any way.

"THAT WOMAN!" she shrieked throwing the magazine violently forward. The page she was pointing at ripped from the magazine and fluttered to the floor. Harry picked it up and stared at the page, then turned it over, but there was no picture on the back. The model that was frozen mid-stride down the runway, looking angelic. He turned the page again, then studied the picture, looking for someone else who it could probably be. There were a few other woman in the picture, but the only other model wasn't facing forward, and the other woman were sitting in chairs, barely even visible. He read the caption at the bottom, something about Ms. Bontecou and her success over the past year.

"Her?" he asked, dumfounded. He didn't recognize the name, or the face. In fact, he'd be quite surprised if she was a witch at all. But his alarms had gone off, so she had been magical.

"That... thing pretends to be one of us and then she comes here, looking for you and playing with my poor boys mind."

"Has Dudley ever even had a girlfriend in his life?" Harry asked, trying to piece together why a model would be looking for him, and also try to figure out what she'd done. He couldn't feel any magic having been used, but there was a curious smell, something vaguely familiar, but he didn't remember where he'd smelled it before.

Dudley started to defend himself, but Harry had turned over the page and was reading the article. There was a show, tonight. Harry grinned, he'd have to see what this person wanted before he returned home. However, he needed to get back to his job for the moment.

•

Sad that she'd failed, Gabrielle just sat while she was prepared for the run, everything went on like normal. She was used to it, the eagerness of some of the inexperienced assistance, the rush that was going on around her. In fact, she rather enjoyed the feeling. However, tonight she didn't really pay attention to the feeling that everyone was having.

She was walked to the runway, she knew the run, and could do it in her sleep, and, in a way, she was. It was halfway down the runway that she noticed the stare. Everyone stared at her, but this stare was... penetrating, intense, curious, stronger than anything she'd felt in a long time. She raised her eyes and started focusing on the audience. Until now she'd just been looking around without seeing anything but the runway.

The walk seemed to slow, though she knew she hadn't changed pace, and then, near the end of the runway, right before she was suppose to turn, she located the source. He was hidden well, his eyes burning through the shadows between all of the lights. His green eyes.

Gabrielle started to turn, but couldn't let go of the gaze, and somehow she lost her balance. She cursed herself as she fell, she'd never fallen, never once fallen on a runway. It didn't matter what she was wearing, or what she was doing, it had never interfered, not once.

Then there was Harry. Her eyes widened as she fell, because somehow he had disappeared from the shadow and was standing beneath her. "Harry!" she said as she fell into a pile in his arms. "I found you."

"Gabrielle!" a voice in the audience called.

For a minute second she saw his eyes widen, and a look of dawning pass through his face. They both looked up to the source of the yell, her sister, Fleur, who always was around at the major modeling events. She saw the look of surprise on Fleur's face and heard a whisper in her ear. "You've certainly grown up since I pulled you out of that lake," he said smugly. Then, the hands that held her disappeared from beneath her and she turned to see Harry had disappeared yet again.


	2. Coinfronta

People have probably already read this. I was going to redo this story, but I've decided to go in the direction I had originally started in, and just take it out of the humor category and focus more on the drama, but keep some humor in it.

Chapter 02

• Coinfronta •

It was several weeks later when Harry allowed himself to think about the girl as he watched her on the runway. Something was bothering him now, a smell that was trying to bring up memories of her. However, the memories were locked away, one of the most important things in his life he'd learned was mind-magic, he could lock up memories for an eternity. It was the only thing that kept him sane anymore.

The class was just starting on a long test and he was grading papers. He stopped doing them as the memory flooded through his head. It wasn't just the memory of her walking down the isle, it was every single thought that was connected to Gabrielle. It was a little over the top, and he rarely did it, but there was so little he knew about her he was relatively safe. Still, it paused all other thoughts.

Was she really looking for him? She'd been so young when he had first met her, a child. Now, now she wasn't a child. In fact , she was one of the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Her sister was just like her, and he hadn't been able to place where he'd seen the face until he saw fleur and heard her call for her sister.

Lately he'd been confiscating magazines, and he pulled them from his desk drawer. He glanced up at the students as the rustled about. He wondered how many of them would actually follow the directions.

Turning the pages once he knew no one was cheating, Harry stared at the picture of Gabrielle slipping off the runway. He was below her, but was barely visible in the picture. She seemed surprised, and... there was something else. He remembered it almost as if it were close by, a smell that tingled his mind.

After scanning the article, he decided that there was almost no information about her. It was about a line she was sponsoring, he did pick up that she'd been a hit since she'd come into the modeling world, something he'd already read before. It also made sense that she'd have a different name, the Delacour's where quite well known in the magical world, and were purebloods magically, perhaps not pureblooded wizards, because of the Veela blood, but still purebloods.

It was the muggle world though. Why was she there? Was she really looking for him?

From the surprise on her face, and the work she'd have to have done just to find his aunts house, she wanted something. For a long time he review the memory, but he wasn't sure about it. She was a Veela after all, they were almost actresses at birth.

She was probably like every other woman that had had a crush on him since he was a year old, and wanted to throw herself at his feet. Or, perhaps she had more Veela in her, and wanted him as some sort of prize. He'd dealt with Veela's during the war, seen how they acted and lusted after what they couldn't have.

Gabrielle was beautiful, yes, he couldn't deny that. However, Veela's were rarely in it for love, they wanted things and got them. He wanted love, he wanted a family. He had been working towards it slowly, he's even found a good prospect, only to have her back out when he'd gotten serious. American woman were so finicky.

He sighed and glanced up at his students. "Parker," he growled and the students eyes focused on his own paper.

He loved his job, and they tended to get along with him just fine. In fact, he had almost everything he'd ever really wished for. It was a little different than he'd first intended, as he'd lost his best friends in the war, but he had made new friends, normal friends who didn't know what his life had been like. He had a home, he had a job, he was happy, at least... he thought he was.

"Mr. Black," a voice said and his attention turned to the doorway, a student was standing near his desk, looking expectant.

"Yes?" he asked smiling and closing the magazine. He always got a smile when he forgot his American accent and, like always, the girl smiled brightly.

"Mrs. Maxine wants you in the office."

Harry stood and stepped into his back office, where his assistant was going through of some of the reports from the week before. "I'll need you to watch the class for a few minutes."

The man, who, oddly enough, was older than Harry, smiled and nodded. He wasn't old, just touching his mid-twenty's. But Harry was only twenty-two, and didn't even look that old. Well, technically he was closer to twenty-four after all the time's he'd used a time-travel to train without time passing.

Predictably, the hallways were empty, it was right in the middle of class, so he walked down the halls quietly, wondering about Gabrielle, and wondering why the vice principal of the school was calling for him.

•

In the office Gabrielle Delacour was nervous, extremely nervous. She couldn't remember when in her life she'd been so nervous. The man sitting at the counter was watching her with interested eyes. He wasn't all that old, nor was he bad looking, but he didn't interest Gabrielle in the slightest. No one in her whole life had, well, no one except for Harry.

"What is it you want from Mr. Black?" A girl asked as she entered the room.

Gabrielle raised her eyes to look at the woman. She had to be twenty five, maybe twenty-six. She had the teacher look, a bit like someone who was a disciplinary. Gabrielle briefly wondered if she worked with Harry, and realized how stupid the thought was, of course she did. However, the woman seemed almost... defensive. Did she have a more personal relationship with Harry perhaps?

"I am a friend from his past," Gabrielle explained, making sure to keep her accent toned down. She knew that many women in America didn't like the accent, because it made men drool at her feet.

"I see," the woman said, looking over Gabrielle again. "Have I met you before?"

That was usually what people asked when they didn't recognize her right away. Gabrielle smiled, "not unless you've been to Europe in the last year," she said. "I have only been to America once.

"French?" the woman asked, trying to be nice. Gabrielle could feel the turmoil inside her, she didn't like Gabrielle, but she was trying to keep from letting it show.

"Yes, my family is from there."

"How long have you known Harry?"

"Since I was a child," Gabrielle said, smiling when the memories she had of him returned. "He saved my life once."

Of course, he didn't know that. When he'd come and stormed the castle, she'd been there, and he'd saved her life. He hadn't woken for almost a month afterwards, and even sooner, he disappeared.

"So you know Harry when he was young?" The woman asked, surprised. "He always said that everyone he knew was dead."

"No, many of them are though. He... lived through a lot, I'm not surprised he tried to forget those memories."

"Maybe we could talk about it sometime."

Gabrielle stared at the woman, and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, she knew that this woman was going to cause difficulties. "Harry has not shared those memories," she said snappishly, "it is not my place to share them for him."

The two girls stared at each other for almost a full minute, sharing a single thought.

"What is it you want with Harry that's so important to come barging into the school?" The woman asked finally.

The truth about it was that Gabrielle wasn't sure exactly where Harry lived, she couldn't find any records under the name he was using, which might mean he owned it under another name, or someone else owned and he was renting under the table. Or, maybe it was something else. She'd traced his name after a lot of research about him.

He'd had a company he owned, before he left, that was doing quite successful, and then it had changed owners after a media frenzy and Harry Left the world. There were thirty three thousand, seven hundred and twenty two people that went by that name in the United States. She knew he wasn't in England, as the ministry had no records of him using magic in England, and no matter how good someone was, occasionally they blinked, and missed something. So she'd looked elsewhere and found some ties in the States, just enough to try there. After accounting for general age and description, along with sightings that had occurred, she had tracked him down.

Of course, she'd spent a tremendous amount of money, bribed all sorts of ministry people, spent money on other information to use for trade... but she'd done it. She'd done what no one in the wizarding world could do, find Harry. Now all she had to do was not scare him off.

"I think that that is a question I need to ask her," Harry said from the door.

Gabrielle turned to him and smiled. But he wasn't smiling, he was frowning.

"Outside," he snapped.

The whole atmosphere of the room changed to surprise. Even Gabrielle had heard he rarely got angry with people and she nodded and followed quietly.

"What in Merlin's _name_ are you doing here," he hissed. "I didn't tell you I was interested. And, when I left that world, I made it very clear I wanted to be left alone."

"I love you Harry," Gabrielle said. "I want to..."

Harry began to laugh uncontrollably. Gabrielle stopped, surprised, and glanced towards the room she'd been in, where she could see at least three people peering through the window, gawking. "Harry..." she said tentatively. "I don't think you understand what I said."

Harry didn't stop laughing, in fact, it seemed the more she spoke the harder he laughed. It went on for several minutes before his laughter died down. "You seem to think I haven't head that before," he said calmly, now that he'd gotten his laughs. "I don't live in that place, and people don't treat me like they did there."

"You could come back you know," Gabrielle said quietly. "No one would think anything was wrong with it."

"I left because that place isn't for me anymore. I can't live that life. I can't be the sort of person I need to be when I'm there. This place is normal, I'm not barraged by people wanting me to fix everything. I'm not all powerful."

Gabrielle reached out to touch him, to express her concern, but he withdrew just out of her reach. "Do not do that," he said quietly. "It's hard enough for me not to just do whatever you want. I'm sure you touching me would make it even more difficult."

The Veela abilities were being repressed as much as possible, and Gabrielle was surprised he'd said anything. She was quite sure she wanted him just the way he was, not like some drooling sycophant willing to follow her every command.

"Harry, please don't treat me like that, I've done nothing to hurt you."

"You found me. I don't want to be found. I don't want people to know I still exist."

"I told no one," Gabrielle said quietly. "I came here to see you, and I didn't even tell them I was leaving. Everything I have is hidden and protected so no one can find you. I don't want you in danger from people that... would want to hurt you."

"Just leave Gabrielle, I have a life here, and I don't want to remember my old one. Besides, you owe me nothing, and there's no reason for you to love me, I've never really done anything for you. I don't want anything from you, I don't want anything from anyone in that place."

With that, Harry turned sharply, and left Gabrielle standing in the middle of the hall, without words.

When the bell rang several minutes later Gabrielle was still standing near the office, thinking. A throng of students seemed to pass by her, but she didn't notice them, didn't see the stares, didn't feel the lust that welled up in nearly every teenage boy. Or, the hate she was receiving from the girls for taking the stares from them. All Gabrielle could feel was the anguish that Harry had felt just before he left, the hidden pain that he was blocking from the world. To be a Veela was to be in tune with the innermost feelings. She was a failure as a witch, magical, but not strong, but her Veela abilities where almost those of a pure Veela, and she knew that she had to take away that feeling he had.


	3. Résolution

Chapter 03

• Résolution •

Harry was having a difficult time.

It was sort of funny, that before now his life had been so ordinary, so smooth, so dreamlike, at least, the dreams he had of a good life. There were of course a couple of quirks in them, including a house-elf who had kept him going on in the world and made sure that he got everything he needed done. His life would be a lot harder without that elf, but even she had been grateful to leave behind the world then.

"Winky," he said, after closing his front door behind him. "I was wondering how much you know about Veela."

A little elf appeared around the corner, holding a tray of tea and biscuits. Harry smiled. She always was ready with hot biscuits, even if he was late. He still couldn't figure out how she did it, because the little elf rarely used magic anymore unless it was absolutely necessary. She seemed to get just as much fulfillment doing things without magic, and she was especially careful now, since they lived in the muggle world.

"Veela, sir?" she asked curiously.

Harry nodded. "I think I'm having a problem with one."

The round saucer-like eyes got even wider as Winky sat the tray down in the living room. "They is finding master?" she asked, very much displeased.

"Only one person found me, and I don't think she'll tell anyone else. However, I don't think she'll leave me alone either."

"She is knowing you?" Winky asked, sitting across from Harry. It was odd behavior for a house-elf, but it was one of the things that Harry had taught her to do, something which had taken a great deal of work too. She sipped at the tiny tea glass she'd set for herself, and waited for Harry to explain more. Winky, if anything, was one of the best listeners Harry knew.

"I met her once, a very long time ago. Her older sister was in the Triwizard Tournament." Harry glanced at Winky, but saw she was taking it as well as he had hoped. It had taken her a long time to get over the things that had happened to her, but she eventually had. Now, it didn't bother her as it once had. She was whole again, as some might say. Of course, it had been Dobby for the most part that had done the work, but Harry had been helping too. And, as Dobby's last request, Winky had taken to tending to Harry, making sure his life was the best she could make it.

"I pulled her out of the lake during the second task. She was a little girl then."

"Winky is remembering these things, she is remembering Dobby is doing things for Master, and helping Master win. She is hearing all about Master's bravery from Dobby."

Yes, Dobby would have definitely had to talk to someone about it. The little elf had never once doubted Harry, and had, of his own free will, stepped in front of a curse that surely would have killed Harry. He'd done it as a friend, and it was one of the few memories Harry had kept, because he knew he couldn't forget the meaning behind it.

"Well, she's all grown up now. And she says she loves me," Harry said, chuckling at the thought. "I wonder if she even knows what real love is. She is a veela after all, and they aren't exactly lacking in the lust department, but, how many of them have really experienced love?"

"You is judging," Winky said and Harry looked up at her, surprised she'd spoken back. There were some things he'd gotten her to quit doing, and some things he'd demanded she do, but talking back had never gone over well, even when she knew she was right.

"I'm not saying she doesn't love me, I'm not trying to judge her at all. I just think it's funny that she believes it. She's met me once in her life, how could she love me? Even if she believes it is true, is it? Does she really know what it is to love someone?"

Harry sipped his tea and thought some more about it. There was a knock on the door and Winky stood up, but Harry shook his head. Usually she answered it, or was near when it was opened, just in case. When he'd brought her to the muggle world with him there had been some charms he'd had to learn, and she'd had to learn that kept her from being seen as an elf. Instead she looked like a dwarf or midget depending on the person seeing her.

He opened the door and smiled. "Jamie, what an unexpected pleasure. I trust there's no problems at the school."

Jamie Dax frowned, she was having a hard enough time coming as it was, and he was making it even more difficult. "No," she said snippishly, "everything is perfectly fine there. I've come to talk about you and I."

Harry knew what she was there for, he could read it. It caused him to wonder if Gabrielle showing up might be a blessing in disguise. Jamie hadn't spoken to him, save a few words, since he'd proposed to her two months before. She had made it very clear then that their relationship was over, and he had stepped over the line. Now, she was at his front door.

"Can I come in or not?" she asked, glancing around, as if trying to see if someone else was in the house.

"We'd be glad to have you. I'm sure Winky can find another glass, she just served tea."

By the time they made it to the sitting room there was a glass waiting, and Winky was filling it. Harry ignored the look he received, because he knew Winky really didn't like Jamie much. Perhaps because of the way they'd met. Winky didn't hate her as much as when they'd first gotten to know one another, but there was still some strong dislike that Harry could see. It was a factor, but it was one of the few things that had held him back from asking, and eventually it had been outweighed by the good things.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Harry inquired, finding his seat next to her and taking a biscuit. He wasn't going to push her, but he wasn't going to let this opportunity go either. If she was starting to think she was wrong, he wanted to make sure she saw everything he could offer yet again, in hopes that she might rethink her position.

"That woman at the school today."

"Gabrielle," Harry said, nodding.

"She said she knew you."

"She did, not well, mind you, but when I was younger I was very popular, and a _lot_ of people knew me, all over England."

"You said your friends had died."

Harry closed his eyes for a second. He knew where this was going, and he didn't want it to make him look like a liar. "Gabrielle was more like an acquaintance. I knew her sister as well, who just so happens to be a bit closer in age, and was engaged to my best friend's brother before I left. I left because of everything that happened in my life, and when that attack killed nearly every person I had ever loved, as family, or as a friend, I couldn't bear to stay."

"What did she want?"

Harry wasn't exactly sure, but he had a pretty good idea. After everything she'd said to him he knew there were probably a few things she wanted. However, some of them he could come out and say. He'd been thinking about telling Jamie about the wizarding world, but he hadn't yet, and he wasn't going to until she'd accepted his proposal for marriage.

"A husband, I think."

Jamie's eyes widened and Harry could hear Winky shift happily at the woman's discomfort.

"You can't be serious. She knew you when you were kids, and now she's come looking for you to marry you?"

"Pretty much. She's used to getting anything she likes." Harry didn't know this was a fact, but it was a general rule, and so he applied it to Gabrielle.

"I can see that," Jamie said, pulling a folder piece of paper from her pocket. "I went into your office after school to see if you were still there, and found this laying on the desk."

It was a photo of Gabrielle.

Harry supposed he should have been more surprised that Jamie had gone over what he left on his desk, but he really wasn't, and he didn't care either. He was a bit angry that he'd done it, but he was angry at himself for letting it happen. He was slipping, that was stupid, letting someone see something he hadn't wanted to be seen. It wasn't like he was an Auror, but over the years he'd had a lot of training for many reasons, and he was losing it somehow.

"I believe there is a rule in class dealing with distractions, allowing a teacher to confiscate such distractions. I do not tolerate the students reading magazines. I assume this one was just not picked up at the end of class."

Jamie's eyes narrowed. "So you don't think she's pretty?" she asked.

"If I were to say she wasn't beautiful, I'd be lying. I don't see how this has anything to do with you. You no longer are involved in my life, remember?"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright," Jamie said smugly and stood up, straightening out the jacket she'd not taken off. "I'll be going now."

There was no point in trying to call her back, Harry knew he'd made a mistake of letting her know too much of the truth. She no longer felt threatened, and so everything was back to the same... exactly where Harry didn't want it to be. Harry did watch her leave before turning back to his living room and sitting down heavily.

"Winky is thinking she is jealous." Winky said as she cleaned up the tea cups, stacking them carefully on the platter. "Winky is curious why."

Try and explain matter of love to a house-elf. That was rich. They didn't understand love the same way that people did. To them, at least most of them, love was something that resulted in little elves, and nothing more. There were some odd ones, like Dobby. He'd been more human somehow. He'd wanted freedom, wanted a life, and been in love with Winky. He'd been ready to do anything for her.

"Pretend I am a job, a job that you haven't got yet, something you think you want, but you're not sure. Then, another elf comes and does that job for you."

Winky's eyes lit up. "The Veela is wanting you like Misses Dax is wanting you?"

"You could say that."

There was a knock, and Harry stood to answer the door, wondering if Jamie had returned for some reason.

•

Gabrielle was in a bit of a bind. She'd checked on at least seven nearby residences, all of them were far too small and run down. Because of her situation, she couldn't be far from the school. She couldn't drive at all, and she needed a good bit of space, which meant she needed a house near the school. If she could apparate it'd make things easier. She'd even checked (before she came of course) to see if the town had any magic at all. It didn't. In fact, there was nothing for miles around.

She was standing in front of the eighth house, a house that looked as if a werewolf had taken up residence there. The place had been ransacked over and over again. Three layers of paint were visible depending on where one stood. Graffiti had been marked on the doors and what was left of the windows.

"I cannot do this," Gabrielle said heavily. It was getting dark and there was nowhere to sleep. She might have to walk until she found a cab or a man to 'convince' to take her to the other side of town so she could get a hotel room. She had no money with her that these muggles understood. None of them would take the Euros she had.

She had walked for twenty minutes without seeing anyone, when she spotted a figure getting in a car. It was a good distance down the street, so she picked up her pace and tried to get there before the person disappeared. The figure was in the car, and moving by the time Gabrielle got within range to make out who it was.

Stopping, she thought it might be better not to bother _that_ person. However, as the woman passed the car slowed, Gabrielle received a look of contempt and a burst of emotions that made Gabrielle wonder where she'd been. There was rage and fear. Where there was none, a warm, comforting emotion had been moments before.

Gabrielle glanced towards the house she'd left and saw the back of someone's head, with an unruly rumple of black hair just before the door closed. Smiling, she straightened herself up, giving the car a glance before marching forward, intent on having another go at Harry.

•

When Harry opened the door, ready to listen to Jamie apologize, he was utterly surprised to find Gabrielle standing at the door. "Harry!" she exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around him. He didn't have time to react to her, and he gasped as the Veela charm bowled him over.

Gabrielle froze and then stepped back, when she saw his dreamy eyed look she cursed and took a deep breath. As she let it out, she closed her eyes and, almost as quickly as it had come, the feeling disappeared.

"Look, I'm sorry about that," Gabrielle said before he had the time to get angry. "I've been trying to find a ride, and so I had to turn it on in hopes someone would pull over."

"You can't apparate?" Harry said, his eyes narrowing. He was angry enough that he'd felt the charm full blast, and he wasn't sure about her explanation. He knew Veela couldn't turn off their charm completely, but it was much easier to deal with them when it was suppressed.

"No," Gabrielle snapped. It was a bit of a sore subject to her, and she really didn't want to discuss it with Harry.

"Why not get a cab?"

"No one likes my money," she pointed out, producing a wad of money for Harry to see.

"You're a witch, charm your feet to run fast and jog to wherever you're going." Harry said coolly. He began to reach for the door, intent to shut it on her, when Winky jabbed him in the back of his knee. He blinked and sighed, looking at Gabrielle was difficult, she was so attractive, even though he'd locked his mind down as best as possible.

"I quit school," Gabrielle revealed. "I am not much of a witch. Fleur did well as a half-breed, but I could not. Everything is so much harder than she had, and so, I decided to become a muggle and get away from everyone. It's easier this way."

"You get away from everyone by becoming a supermodel? Harry asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Being a model was quite lonely. It wasn't what I envisioned, but it was definitely lonely."

"Was?" Harry asked, a little curious by what she meant.

"Oh! I do not model any longer. I have another job."

"When?" Harry asked a bit surprised. It was the perfect job for a Veela. They absolutely adored the attention it gave them.

"I quit and started a new job five hours ago."

Counting out the time in his head, Harry figured it, and that was almost twenty minutes after he'd yelled at her. "You can't be serious," he said, startled. "It's quite a rash decision, something you should think about before making."

"I thought about it for three days before I came to meet you. Then, when you told me I had to leave, I decided."

"Would it be different if I hadn't told you to leave me alone?" Harry asked angrily. She was making decisions that he didn't want to deal with. She was disturbing his perfectly normal life, where everything had its place. Winky chose this moment to jab him in the knee a second time. Harry knew she was angry with him for being rude, but he was having a difficult time doing it. He had been celibate for quite a while, and just looking at her meant he was having difficulties turning off the voice in his head that told him to invite her in. It wanted him to be conniving, and make her do whatever he asked. He had always had that voice, and like always, he ignored it.

"You can't just leave everything you've been doing for the past year because you want to seduce me."

Gabrielle glowered. "I can do whatever I choose to do with my life," she said defiantly. "I am old enough to choose."

"You're what, fifteen, sixteen?" Harry growled, remembering she couldn't have been more than seven or eight when he first met her. It had only been eight or nine years since then. It was possible that she was eighteen, she did look it. In fact she looked much older than eighteen. Harry knew that it was a standard Veela trait, reaching maturation much faster than normal. After that, their growth slowed, and they aged extremely well. A fifty-year-old Veela would easily be mistaken for a woman in her late-twenties.

"I am turning eighteen in three weeks," she said irritably. "I am old enough to do whatever it is I want to do."

"Wow, eighteen," Harry said sarcastically. He remembered being eighteen. He had been the most popular person in the wizarding world at the time and all he wanted was for them to leave him alone. He had felt the exact same way she did. Winky poked him for the third time, but this time it had a bit of magic behind it, and Harry almost fell to his knees because it hit him so hard. He did tumble forward, right into Gabrielle.

Not quite ready for his body weight, Gabrielle toppled backwards and Harry landed on top of her. He found himself face to face with her, staring right into her eyes. Without thinking, he let himself do what he'd been wanting to do since the moment he saw her on stage. He leaned forward and kissed her. The kiss lasted a whole tenth of a second before something dragged him off of her.

"Harry!" he heard Jamie yell and he ducked, knowing what was coming.

Gabrielle was still lying on the ground, but didn't exactly look hurt, so Harry swiveled and made a beeline for a solid object. One thing he knew was that he needed something between himself and his ex-girlfriend. Gabrielle could take care of herself, but he wasn't so sure he'd be able to manage. "I thought you left, Jamie," he said quickly as she marched forward into his house without asking permission.

"Harold Evans!" she cried, trying to get a grasp on the collar of his shirt. "You are such a disgusting person!"

Harry knew he was in trouble now. She'd only called him Harold twice now, and the first time hadn't been a pretty scene. She called him that, because that's what all his documents said. Jamie made her way around the chair, and Harry scrambled to the other side of the couch which was a much larger object and quite a bit easier to defend himself with.

"You never called me disgusting before. I believe you were the one with some of the more questionable er... tastes," Harry teased, trying to take the edge off her anger.

It didn't work. In fact she only got angrier. Harry bent down as she hurled one of his lamps from a nearby coffee table. Winky sped across the room, trying to catch it, but failing without magic. She growled angrily and Harry was sure she was about to do something he didn't want. Gabrielle chose that moment to rise to her feet, and although she was flush, and a little rumpled, she looked in perfect working order.

"I didn't get your name before," Gabrielle said to Jamie.

Jamie turned on her, an evil glint in her eye. "Jamie, Jamie Dax. I happen to be Harry's girlfriend."

Harry was sure he should be offended, but he was hoping it would drive Gabrielle off, finding out he was already involved. He should have known that it would only drive the Veela further.

"This is your companion, Harry?" she asked him directly, completely ignoring Jamie.

Harry gazed over to Jamie, and smiled. If she was going to play with him, he was going to play with her. "No," he said truthfully. "We haven't been going out for almost two months now. She didn't like the idea of my proposing to her."

"Really?" Gabrielle said excitedly. "Good, then she won't mind if you let me stay for a while, until I find a place of my own."

"You can't!" Harry and Jamie said almost in synch. Harry had already known it was coming. Gabrielle had been leading towards it since she'd first knocked on the door. There was no way he could just let her stay, he wasn't sure if he could handle it. He'd already slipped once, and he'd been with her for less than an hour.

However, glancing back at Jamie, he felt some satisfaction in the horror that she showed.

"Harry, you must," Gabrielle said. "I simply cannot find another place that fits basic standards. You understand this. I can see that even you have made your place more comfortable. These Americans, they do not understanding standards of living."

There was no way that Harry was going to be talked into it. Jamie stood and almost hissed her next few words. "You are not allowed to stay at Harry's home."

It was the fact that Jamie seemed to feel she could run his life that caused Harry to rethink the matter. That and Winky repeatedly poking him in the side of the leg. At least Winky hadn't used magic. Harry hated to memory charm people, especially ones he knew.

"If I let you stay, you promise to look for your own place as soon as possible, right?" he asked.

Gabrielle nodded fervently and Jamie seemed aghast.

"You said you have a job, correct? It's nearby?"

"Very close." Gabrielle said, stepping forward eagerly.

"Alright. It's getting late. I'll allow it for the time being. I can't have you out on the streets. Who knows what would happen to you."

Gabrielle squealed and jumped at Harry, throwing her arms around him and kissing him on the cheek and making him blush. "We are going to have so much fun!" she said, and Harry had to wonder how much trouble he was going to get into with her around.


	4. Impardonnable

Author note: I am currently trying to get a hold of some of my old beta's, (and actually find their information) and speak with some people who have emailed me lately interested in beta'ing, so this chapter is completely unbeta'd, if this is a problem, don't read it. I'm beginning to think that the most I will be doing is a basic 'beta' of my stuff before publishing anyway, that way it can get out and I can think ahead instead of trying to decide what to do. I have more that I'll publish soon, so review and let me know what you think so I can work out any changes I'll be needing.

Chapter 04

• Impardonnable •

When Harry woke in the morning he reviewed the happenings of last night. He recalled the door slamming as Jamie stomped out angrily, and he sighed. He sat up in bed, and the door burst open, a positively gleeful Gabrielle bouncing off the walls. "Good morning!" she said happily. "I made you breakfast."

Harry groaned. Winky was not going to be happy. Usually he took his breakfast late, so she didn't start on it until he was awake. He glanced at his alarm clock and realized it was barely 5 in the morning.

"You're awful chipper, seeing as it's barely five. Did you find a place already?" he asked, a little disgruntled at how early he was being bothered. He rarely even woke at this hour, and he wondered why he had.

"It's not this early in France!" she said, "I flew over here yesterday; I will adjust, but I have not yet."

"Makes things _so_ much easier," he said, and turned to fall back asleep. He really didn't care what was for breakfast, he would much rather have another half-hour of sleep.

"Oh Harry, you're so broody. Get up, or I'll dose you with water."

"Can't use magic here," Harry said groggily.

Magic wasn't necessary. In fact, after what seemed like a second time he was dosed with ice-cold water. He jerked awake, and saw Gabrielle had a glass in her hand. "Out!" he roared, and struggled to free himself from his sheets, ready to curse her until she couldn't even breathe.

Gabrielle scampered off, laughing lightly.

By the time Harry had finished his morning ritual and made it out of his bedroom his food was cold. Winky offered him something, but it was quite obvious that Gabrielle was intent on seeing Harry eat something she'd made. Harry stirred the hash browns a little with his fork before finally breaking down and taking a bite. To his shock, they didn't even taste like hash browns, or potatoes, or anything remotely edible. He managed to choke down the first bite, and he looked at Gabrielle, who was watching curiously, waiting for some sort of reaction.

"What are these?" he asked quietly. He tried to void himself of any emotion because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. She was at least making some sort of real effort, not like most of the girls that threw themselves at his feet, and even if he didn't want her in his life he knew he should be courteous until she pushed things too much.

"Potatoes."

"Where did you get them?" Harry asked, curious how she'd found the potatoes, she didn't seem dirty, and Winky always pulled them fresh from the garden. He was almost positive Winky wouldn't have pulled them if she knew what Gabrielle was going to do with them. Taking over her job was something Harry rarely ever tried, and he always got a severe scolding for it. One thing about a retraining a house-elf, they knew how to talk back should they chose to.

"I couldn't find any in the kitchen, so I checked the small kitchen downstairs, where Winky works. I found a small stash of them downstairs. I just diced them up and..."

Winky, who had been hiding until that moment, let out a gasp and disappeared with a pop. Harry glanced to Gabrielle and frowned. "You didn't take anything else of Winky's, did you?" he asked.

"No," Gabrielle said tentatively, a little frightened suddenly. "I didn't do something wrong, did I?"

"They weren't potatoes," Harry said, wondering how quick he was going to have to throw up. He downed a glass of orange juice, which tasted perfectly alright, and hoped it wouldn't happen. In his whole time working at the school, he'd never once taken ill. He had missed a few classes here and there, but usually the class was pretty good behaved and he could leave his aid in control of the class while he popped to wherever it was he needed to go to take care of personal business.

Winky screamed down stairs and Harry covered his ears as a nauseous feeling overwhelmed him. Harry gripped the table, trying to remain in control, but his stomach wouldn't let him keep it down and he gagged. Then, as he rushed towards the bathroom his whole body went limp and it felt like his food was crawling back up from his stomach. He never made it to the bathroom, and he threw-up all over the floor in the kitchen.

"Harry," an angelic voice sang in his sleep Harry heard it, but couldn't seem to open his eyes to see what angel spoke to him.

There was another voice from time to time, which spoke to him, but none of them were so sweet as the angel.

When he finally woke, he found himself alone, in his bed, and unable to recall why he was there. The sun was barely over the hills, but it was in the wrong spot, and Harry knew he could not have possibly slept all day. He recalled someone else was around, but he couldn't pinpoint who it was. Carefully he sat up and found himself feeling a bit ill. He stepped to his door and pushed it open, only to be assaulted by a powerful feeling that nearly overwhelmed him. Rocking on the spot and glancing around, his eyes came to rest on a sleeping figure sitting in a chair beside his door. He stared at her for a moment before it dawned on him who it was and he gaped.

"She is very sorry," Winky said behind him and Harry turned.

"What is she..." and then, as if the floodgates had been opened, the memories returned to him. He swayed once more by the sheer force of them, and Winky zipped forward to steady him.

"She did not know that the potatoes are Winky's dried gnomes sir. She was thinking they is potatoes and not knowing they is poisonous when they is dried."

Harry looked to Winky, who was nearly holding him up completely and he smiled, thinking about how odd the situation was. "Why do you have dried gnomes Winky?" he asked lightly. "They're not exactly part of any sort of meal I've ever taken."

"The gnomes is good for sickness, they is helping to keep illness away when it comes. Winky mixes tiny bits of skin into the tea once every week, and no one is getting ill at all."

Never having been very good at potions, Harry just shook his head. It seemed to lighten until he found himself floating upward and falling down at the same time. Winky caught him again and carried him back into his room. "You is needing sleep sir," she said in a bossy tone. Harry just nodded and laid back down, though he didn't go to sleep. The sun set and Harry still couldn't fall asleep, though he wasn't quite awake either. He heard his bedroom door open softly, and then close even softer. Someone padded across the floor and stood next to him. He sure it wasn't Winky because she was quieter, and so he guesses it was Gabrielle.

"I am sorry," she whispered, her French accent much stronger than most of the time she spoke in Harry's presence. "I was just wanting to make you happy I had come. You did not want me, and I was confused, and scared. I want you to really know me Harry Potter, I want you to see me as a person, not a Veela."

Harry didn't open his eyes, but he became more aware the she was so close her breath was causing his face to heat up a bit. She moved even closer and with a gentle kiss, he felt her pull away and leave the room.

It was early in the morning, much earlier than normal when Harry got out of bed. He was feeling much more refreshed and he moved across the house, easily getting his morning tasks done. By the time he saw down in the kitchen, a steamy plate of eggs was waiting for him.

"Winky?" Harry asked as the little elf served him some bacon. "When did Gabrielle get to sleep?"

"The miss is sleeping very little last night," she replied, adding more bacon. "She is sleeping much of yesterday. Winky is thinking that she is running out of magic."

"Why would she run out of magic?" Harry asked, just before putting the eggs in his mouth.

"You is taking ill for many days," Winky explained. "The Miss is not sleeping while you is ill. She is trying what she can to help and Winky is thinking that none of it is working well, except to make the Miss lose magic. If she is not sleeping she is not getting rest to replenish it, and since Miss is not having much magic, she is wearing out very fast."

"What day is it Winky?" Harry asked, hoping it hadn't been too long.

"The day is Wednesday sir."

Harry flinched. "I slept for five days?" he asked quietly. "How could you let me do that?" he asked. "I can't just go to sleep while I'm supposed to be working."

"This is being taken care of by the Miss sir, she is taking a note in for Winky sir."

Harry just closed his eyes and silently groaned. Jamie was going to castrate him now, and that would be if she played nice. Glancing at the clock on the wall a second time, Harry sighed. "I'll be going to work early today Winky. Please remind Gabrielle, when she awakens, that she promised to look for another place to live."

"Yes Harry," Winky said, bowing just slightly and disappearing. Harry hoped that it would get his point across, he really didn't like being angry with anyone and, as annoyed as he was with Gabrielle, he wasn't angry, not yet. When she'd first shown up he's tried to get angry, and he had been quite irate, but not enough he supposed.

After changing he left his house and took the long route to work. He usually walked, because it helped him clear his mind in preparations for the day ahead of him. It was also good exercise.

When Harry entered into the school he said hello, then stopped by the office to let them know he was indeed there. Jamie had not come yet, as it was still early in the day, which Harry was quite grateful for. He then went directly to his room. The substitute had followed his lesson plan exactly, and his assistant had left sufficient notes about everything that had been done. Glad that he had a competent assistant, Harry scanned through all the notes and then moved to the ungraded tests locked in his desk. He was grading these when the first person showed up in his room.

He glanced up and nodded to Haley, one of his more enthusiastic students, then returned to his tests.

"Mr. Black?" Harry glanced up, hearing his name. Typically Haley stayed quiet even during class.

"Yes Ms. Hanson?"

Haley frowned. "You can call me Haley."

"And you may call me Harry, we have addressed this before, several times if I'm correct."

"But..."

"Ms. Hanson, what is it that you need?" Harry asked.

"Were you really ill for almost a week?" she asked. "There have been really strange rumors going around the school about you."

"Really?" Harry asked, quite surprised. He even stopped grading and put his papers down. "What sort of rumors have been going around about me?"

"Everyone says that the some model showed up at the school the other day and she knows you. They say that's why you were gone, because she showed up."

Harry almost laughed, the absurdity of it was that it was true, though probably not for the reasons that the teenagers were thinking of. "Ms. Bontecou is indeed a friend of mine, yes. However, I assure you, I was quite ill for the past week. In fact, I was so ill I remember very little of what happened."

"So Ms. Bontecou is really a model too?"

"Too?" Harry asked. "You know her then?"

"Of course, everyone seems to know her now that she is the new office secretary. Ms. Dax doesn't seem to like her, but everyone else does."

Harry sat quietly, digesting the information. If Gabrielle was the office secretary... "Merlin," he muttered under his breath. "This is going to get bad. Ms. Hanson, if you'll excuse me. I won't be long."

As quickly as possible, without seeming in a rush, Harry headed to the office. Several of the students waved hello and he smiled and waved in return, but kept going forward. He couldn't stop and talk to anyone, even if they wanted to. He entered the office and stopped when he was returned with a beautiful smile from Gabrielle.

"Merlin," he whispered again, covering his eyes with his hands. Then he turned and left the office before she could say anything to him.

Class went slower than it had ever gone before. In fact, Harry almost checked for magic before the day was up. When his last class was ended and he'd answered all the questions that came from the students, Harry sat at his desk and waited. His assistant smiled from the back of the room. "You certainly have become the talk of the school," he said cheerfully. "I've been hearing things about you being in hiding from the mafia, or being some great spy or something. There's also the rumor that the new office girl is your wife, the mother of your children, or a long-lost sister. There are more of course, but those are the one's that are most talked about that no one will bring up."

There wasn't much he could do, Harry just shook his head. "I get sick for a week and all the sudden the school decides that I'm some sort of mysterious figure."

"No, you were mysterious before," the assistant said with a smile. "But there was never anything specifically to talk about. Some of the teachers are beginning to wonder about you as well, they talk about how you have no friends other than the one's you've made in the last few years, and no family, no past at all that they know of. It certainly isn't boding well for you."

"I left what life I had, my family died, then my friends died, there was nothing left for me."

"I have heard it before."

"It is true for the most part," Jamie said from the doorway. "He is quite mysterious even if he pretends not to be."

The assistant smiled, stood, and excused himself. He had grown quite used to Jamie showing up after school, and knew it was time to leave.

"Gabrielle has been quite a hit in the office," she said sharply. "So popular that detentions have gone up eighteen percent in the past several days. She does nothing wrong specifically, but she seems quite flirty with the students."

"When did she get a job here?" Harry asked. "I wasn't aware we even had any openings."

"Nor was I," Jamie returned. "Apparently one of the office staff had been thinking about transferring to another school, a job came up, he transferred and there was an opening. It is odd that Gabrielle was available to fill it so quickly. Usually it takes several weeks for someone in the district office to find a replacement when we loose a staff member."

"Has she caused problems?" Harry asked. "I'll tell her she needs to leave if she has been."

"There is nothing she has specifically done yet, however I believe she is causing a problem even if there is nothing I can prove."

Harry let out a breath. "Alright, I'll talk to her anyway. She really needs to find a place to live."

"Were you really ill?" Jamie asked, changing the subject slightly. "Winky would not allow me in at all, she seemed to think I would get ill as well."

"Yes, I was quite ill. In fact, I remember only a few brief moments of what happened after I blacked out. Until last night I was in comatose state."

"Then it was bad?"

"It may very well have killed me from what I understand," Harry said. "Had Winky not been a good nurse I don't think I would have lived."

"Nurse, housekeeper, secretary, cook, is there anything that Winky does not do?"

"She can't drive," Harry pointed out.

Jamie sighed. "You know, every time I go there she seems to be around every corner. You say she's only your maid, but she really doesn't seem to like me at all."

"She doesn't," Harry explained simply. "But she has no say in it, so what she thinks does not matter."

"You never explained why you needed a live in servant, you just told me you had one and she was nicknamed Winky – another thing you never explained. Why would you have a maidservant that lived in your house, you're a bachelor, and you're not exactly making an extraordinary amount of money. She doesn't seem to want anything from you at all, she wears almost the same exact clothing every time I visit, and she has the strangest speech patterns."

"You never complained before. You merely accepted things as they were." Harry said quietly, trying not to get angry, he'd even brought things up to her before, since Winky was rarely introduced to people, but Jamie had simply nodded an acceptance and never said anything further on it. While Winky was not someone that was going to be a decision maker for him on matters of love, she was important to him, and how others reacted to her had always been a deciding factor in any relationships. The fact that Jamie had so readily accepter her at the time had given him hope for someday in the future when he had to explain the truth about his life.

Jamie's eyes narrowed. "Well you did not have a 22 year old model sleeping at your house who, by all accounts I've been hearing lately, looks better than every other woman that exists. A woman who, I may add, has made it quite obvious that she wants to sleep with you."

Harry sighed, he didn't like the way this conversation was going, he knew Jamie was jealous, but he was trying to make her understand she didn't need to be. He had barely even thought about such things. Gabrielle was... well, irritating at best. He could handle her with relative ease, should he need to. He was sad that Jamie didn't understand that though, he had done his best to try and make her realize how much he loved her, or thought he did. He had let Gabrielle stay, yes, but it was not for any reasons that even remotely had anything to do with the two of them having any relations. She needed a place, she was someone he knew from the past, and, in part, he had wanted to irritate Jamie in hopes that she would come to realize how much he meant to her. Obviously things were not working as he planned.

"I really did love you, you know? But, somehow you're quickly becoming someone I don't even want to know. I have professed my love to you at least twice in the past year, I would hope that you knew me well enough to know I would not simply push you aside because someone from my past showed up at my doorstep."

"When she _looks_ like a slut and is ready to jump in your bed what else am I to think? It wouldn't surprise me at all, after all, you seemed all too happy to let her stay at your place while she 'looked for a place to live' as she says."

"Jamie, please don't say this," Harry said quietly, feeling even more downtrodden than he had before. The conversation was fast approaching things he didn't want to talk about. It really hurt him because he had trusted her so much with his feelings, even after she'd said no to his proposal. He had continued to hope that perhaps she just needed more time, and waited for her to show signs of interest so he could begin dating her again. Now, now he was finding it difficult to hope for such a thing. He had seen woman turn like this many times, and it was not something he wanted to see in Jamie.

His quiet tone seemed to only enrage her more. "I don't care what you want to hear from me! I'm going to say whatever I please! You... you are exactly the sort of person I though you were. It is unforgivable!"

Harry sighed, staring at her. There was a feeling tugging at his heart, like something had just gone terribly wrong and would never be fixed. Until now he hadn't once lost hope about her eventually coming around. In fact, the jealousy had been a good sign, at least at first. He had hoped that she would agree to start dating him at least, and once he'd moved Gabrielle out he would try to get on with his life.

However, she had turned into... something he wasn't so sure about. Twenty minutes before, if she would have said she was ready to marry him, he would have gladly taken the offer. Now, now he wasn't so sure. He listened to her rant, glassy-eyed, having heard it all before. He knew what she was saying, and he was sad to hear it coming from her lips. No matter where he went, it always turned out like this. Whether it was because of a miscommunication or because people couldn't accept that his best friend – or his former best friend – had been a girl, it always came to the same argumentative end.

As she went on, Harry wondered if this could have all been prevented by simply not showing an interest in the Dursley's affairs. If he hadn't shown up to see who was bothering them, would Gabrielle have continued her quest? He suspected she might have, but would she have been successful? Or, perhaps if he'd spoken to her then, would things have been different?

He hated her for a moment, hated that, in a week she'd destroyed nearly everything he'd carefully built. The community was a small one, and though it wasn't exactly a perfect place, he would matter, because he always mattered wherever he went.

When she was done she excused herself and Harry just let out a long sigh. He knew what he needed, some quiet time to rethink his life and the decisions he'd made. One thing he was certain about, Gabrielle was going to find her own place, and soon.

• Last Updated 2006.02.23 •


	5. Rémission

Yeah. Since someone has come around and been bugging me to post this, I figure I might as well. Let me know what you think I guess.

Joindre Chapter 05

• Rémission •

Quiet time was definitely not forthcoming. From the moment Harry stepped into his own home, he knew it. Gabrielle was there, he could hear her in the back room. However, he ignored her because he had to think first. So, he immediately headed to his own room and deposited his overcoat on the bed. Winky had a system for his clothing and hated it when he hung up something that he'd worn, even coats. She had a place for them, and always spent time cleaning them before she put them back into the closet. Harry had only made the mistake of doing it himself once, and after living with the affects of an angry house-elf, he had allowed himself to lay them out on the bed instead.

"Harry," Gabrielle called from outside his door. "Dinner's on the table."

"I don't feel like eating tonight," Harry said, just loud enough to be heard. "I think I'm going to take a walk."

Harry moved to open the door that led out back, so he could escape without passing by Gabrielle. Winky seemed to be ready for him too and she was standing there with a particularly nasty smirk on her face. "You is eating tonight, at the table. You is only just getting better and if you wants to stay better you is going to eat."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Winky raised her hand and pointed, dropping her head and not looking at Harry. Harry was well aware of what that meant, that she was not about to let him do anything about it, she'd made up her mind and there was nothing that was going to keep her from getting her way.

"Fine Winky, I'll eat."

Three minutes later, sitting down at the table, Harry tried to keep from looking at Gabrielle. She kept smiling so brightly, and, though he knew she was keeping her Veela charm to a minimum it was still difficult to see anything else.

"So, Gabrielle," he asked as casually as possible, still not feeling very good about what had transpired between he and Jamie earlier in the day. "Have you found an apartment yet?"

Gabrielle shook her head.

"Have you looked?" Harry asked immediately.

Before Gabrielle responded, he could see that she was thinking, which meant the answer he was about to hear probably wasn't what he wanted to hear from her.

"Since you got sick..." she hesitated and Harry could see she was sad. Which oddly enough, made him feel sad, but it wasn't enough to keep him from being angry that she hadn't even bothered to look.

The whole room temperature dropped several degrees, which made Harry even angrier at himself. In the fight against Voldemort there had been many things he'd done to himself, and some of the side-effects were strange, even for wizards. The most prominent one was, often times when he felt extreme emotions, things and people around him were affected in odd ways. That was why he had buried himself deep down inside, and tried to be as emotionless as possible.

"Sick or not, I'm sure that you had some time to go out and look for a place to stay. After all, you seem to have found a job for yourself in under a day – which is quite a feat in itself," he said irritably. "Find a place. If I have to make it bigger, or make it safer, I can do a few magical charms, as long as I'm not required to spend several hours doing it."

"Yes Harry," Gabrielle said quietly, her eyes glued to the table. "I'm sorry about the problems I've caused."

"Just get out of my life. I'll fix it all by myself," he said angrily, then stood and left the table in silence. Gabrielle and Winky said nothing as the front door slammed behind him.

"Why did it turn out this way?" he asked himself, looking both directions before deciding it would be best to take a stroll towards a nearby park.

It was a quiet night, and brisk, but not very chilly. It certainly wasn't as cold as the house felt before he left. Searching his memories, Harry wondered if he should release some of the things he'd locked up about Dumbledore. The old man, while manipulative, had never led him astray, and Harry wished he could speak to him now. What would he say?

Harry imagined him strolling next to him, a dish of lemon-drops in his hand. He was smiling, looking distinguished as always, however he didn't speak. He just nodded forward and they walked, side by side. When Harry finally came to the park he sat down, glanced around, and then spoke. "What am I going to do?" he asked, perhaps speaking to himself, or perhaps the image of Dumbledore his mind had conjured.

The old man just smiled wistfully and offered Harry a lemon drop, which of course Harry declined. He leaned back, his eyes sparkling and looked up at the stars. Then, the image changed. Firenze stood at the edge of the bench, looking up at the clear evening sky. "Venus is bright tonight," he said gloomily.

Harry stared as the figure changed again, this time to Ron. "Never should have let it go this far," he said, as if it made any sense at all. "Everyone misses you."

"I miss everyone too," Harry said, his anger changing to sadness.

Hagrid appeared next, looking particularly rough. "Just Harry is it?" he said with a smile. "Well, just Harry it is then."

Harry closed his eyes, remembering the first time he'd seen Hagrid, how startled he'd been, how everything had been more like a dream, a fantasy, something he'd wanted so bad he made it come to life. "You'll never find what you're looking for if you don't look," it was Hermione's turn. She looked fresh, new, and older. Even Ron hadn't changed much, but she had. She was smiling brightly, and had a book in her hand. "Sometimes the answers aren't where we think they are though," she said, holding up the book. "Not everything can be found in a library."

His own words, he'd told her a few days before she'd died trying to save someone, probably himself, from Death Eaters. She'd been buried in books, trying to find the answer to Harry's dilemma, trying to make sure he lived instead of Voldemort. He had been trying to get her to leave the library, and he'd said those exact words, and even at that time it had echoed of Dumbledore. Now, now they just made him cry. He cursed the fact that not all of his memories were suppressed, that he couldn't just make his past disappear completely.

He couldn't help it, tears just pored down his cheeks. He knew she'd died, knew she'd been trying to save someone, knew that, in the end, she'd been a hero. He'd been there, he knew that much. He'd blocked the memory though, and pretended that he hadn't. Something had happened there, something he couldn't handle.

The weather made a turn for the worst as he cried and rain began to fall, large droplets of them, soaking the ground around him, making it even harder to suppress his mood.

Hermione faded and Ginny took her place. She smiled, but it didn't look like Ginny, not the Ginny he remembered. She looked both sad and happy, she almost looked like the memory of his mother he'd once seen in Snape's pensive, though she was taller. "You have a family, remember that."

She'd told him that during his last year at Hogwarts when he'd been ready to give up because his friends were dying. "I know," he said in a quiet whisper. She hadn't meant just the Weasley's either, even though they were his family. In some ways, the whole population of Hogwarts had been his family too, even if he didn't get along with them all, or even know them all.

Then, Neville stood there. He wasn't smiling as Ginny had been, instead he had a grim look of determination on his face. "It's never easy, is it?" he commented. "Facing the past, and the future, it's something that causes an ache in your heart. You and I understand it better than most."

Indeed, Neville was right, it wasn't easy. He'd never been 'just Harry', not since the day he was born. A prophecy had controlled his life even before he was born. And, it had created him, and made him the person he was now. Even after it had been fulfilled, he couldn't leave its grasp for long. Because of the prophecy he was powerful, he was famous, and because of the prophecy he had to leave. Words had done this, every bit of it had been because of a handful of words spoken over twenty years ago.

"You know," he heard someone say, and turned to see that Sirius was standing there, a Sirius he'd never known, one that wasn't a day over twenty. His tears continued to fall, and with them, the rain. "It all turns out for the better in the end, you just have to let things work themselves out," he said, something Harry never would have imagined his counterpart in life to say. But he stood there, grinning like a maniac, and every bit the Sirius Harry had imagined.

Standing finally, Harry looked away. Sirius was dead, so were Neville, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid and Dumbledore. The things he was imagining were just that – images that had been constructed in his mind.

"They're as real as you need them to be," someone said and Harry turned to see that the Sirius he'd seen wasn't Sirius anymore, but himself. He was sitting, looking younger, he'd wasn't even growing whiskers yet, and had a nice clean face instead of the moustache and goatee he had taken to wearing for the last few years. "Don't let the past trap you," the imagined figure said.

Harry turned away and began walking down the street, but he knew the image was following him. "Leave me alone," he hissed.

The shadow just laughed lightly. "I can't," it said. "I'm trapped, here, with everyone else. You've locked us away."

Harry froze mid-step. "No," he said. "You're just my imagination." He said, and then continued forward briskly.

"Perhaps you're right, we're just figments of a barren mind that lacks any imagination whatsoever, a mind that has cut itself off from the rest of the world, a place that's a black hole of misery. Where..."

"Shut up already," Harry muttered and the figure quit talking. He glanced over as he walked, and the figure was still their, trotting alongside him.

"She wasn't right for you. I don't think she wouldn't have taken the whole 'magical me' thing real well. Or, for that matter, the fame, and fortune, none of it would have gone over particularly easily. Even if you wouldn't have told her it would have weighed down on you and, in the end, it would have destroyed what you thought you had.

The rain had turned into mist now, and the hastened walk slowed as Harry's house came into view. He wasn't sure if he could go back in just yet.

"I want it to be normal," he said to the figure. "I wanted to just have a normal life, without everything odd happening around me all the time."

"And what, move back to Privet Drive? You could have a perfectly manicured yard, with a normal car, and normal neighbors who have nothing better to do than trade rumors about each other? Your house would be just like everyone else's, your garden a picture of perfection. You could wake up every Saturday and read the paper, take out the trash, mow the lawn, wash the car and then be lazy and sit in front of the television until dinner."

Harry knew what he was trying to tell himself. He couldn't just be normal, no matter how much he tried. The garden would always be full of odd plants, with a few strangled weeds. There would always be a garden gnome or two, even if Winky had a habit of 'properly disposing of them' as she called it. Now that Harry knew what she meant by that he was quite sure he'd run them off himself now, when Winky wasn't looking of course.

He didn't have a car, in fact, he was rather against them. He'd been in them a few times since he'd moved away and had grown to despise them. They were restrictive, slow, and deadly, hardly something he wanted to have in front of his house. He rather enjoyed walking, or taking slightly more magical forms of transportation. His broom was still hidden somewhere deep in the closet, away from prying eyes.

The neighbors he had were generally normal, and even though he tried, he never got on well with them unless he acted unlike himself. Everything about the picture was wrong.

"Then, after you have two and a half kids, they could mow the lawn for you and you could spoil them rotten with every present they could ever need. That is, until they're old enough to be invited to a magical school, where they'll find out they're not exactly as 'normal' as you want them to be."

Harry thought about this as well. He'd always known that if he did have a family, like he wanted, and had children of his own, it was most likely that they would be magical. If they were magical, it wouldn't take long for them to find out who their father really was, and then everything he'd created would topple down yet again.

Looking at his house, Harry wondered if he could go back. Inside was a life he'd created for himself, a scripted life with nothing that was real, nothing except for the two occupants, who were exactly the sort of people he'd hidden himself from. At least Winky had tried to live the life he'd created. And Gabrielle... he sighed. He was beginning to wonder if it was Gabrielle he hated, or himself. Somehow he'd become his uncle, not exactly, but close enough that it was disturbing him.

"There, I've done my part," the figure next to him said. "Don't leave us trapped here." Then, like Dumbledore had appeared, the figure faded away into the darkness, leaving Harry standing on the street in the evening, looking towards his house.

Harry almost cried again, not out of sadness, or happiness, he just felt like crying. However, he held it off. He nodded resolutely to himself, took a step forward, and realized he wasn't quite ready to go back in. He knew he needed to apologize to Gabrielle. While she did need to find her own place, he also knew that she'd spent every bit of time she could with him, trying to help him get better. He was ashamed he'd been so cold to her. He also needed to talk with Jaime. Even if he couldn't patch things up to repair the relationship they'd once had, he would like her to know that she had mattered, and he'd never once done anything to intentionally hurt her.

A little girl lived next door, and Harry recalled he'd seen her one day, running in and out of the make-shift playhouse that had been built in their side yard. That was before Harry had put up a fence to keep the neighbors from seeing the oddity of his backyard. The girl was older now, and probably didn't use it, but he wondered briefly if that playhouse was still there. Slipping stealthily up his front yard, Harry came to the fence and stared into the neighbor's back yard. He could see a vague outline of a shack and he nodded. He walked towards it, and felt it over with his hands until he found a doorway.

Inside it was small, but not tiny, easily large enough for two adults to sit in comfortably. However, it felt familiar, like a long-lost friend, the tight, enclosed feeling, the spider webs near his head. Even the smell of old wood. He smiled and leaned back, wondering if he was really going to go back to everything he had run from. Was it something he was strong enough to do? He wondered, just before he dozed off.

•

"Good lord," he heard someone say, and he opened his eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. He turned to the voice, and saw the man that lived next door, Jonathan Freeman, staring at him through a doorway of some sort. His mind turning a complete blank as to where he was, Harry looked around again, and then remembered the night before.

"Hello," he said, smiling and feeling somewhat embarrassed he'd been found here.

"Don't tell me you got kicked out of your own house," Jonathan said with a look of something between horror and amusement. "I mean, I've heard of people sleeping in the dog-house, but I never knew it to be so literal."

Harry crawled out of the little shack and then dusted himself off, glancing up to see that it was still quite early in the morning, and so he wasn't going to be late for school. "No, that's not exactly what happened. I just needed to go for a walk, and I... er... locked myself out. Everyone was asleep, and I really didn't want to be a bother–"

"Well, that's a whole lot better excuse that I would have come up with," Jonathan replied, more amused now than anything. "Though, if I'd been kicked out of my house, I would have been sleeping in a hotel, not a rotten old playhouse."

"It was quite comfortable," Harry assured the man. "Actually, it reminded me of being a kid again, and, as weird as it sounds, I slept extremely well."

"Do be sure to knock on our door the next time," Jonathan said, then laughed. "Though, I still wonder how you got kicked out of your own home, when you don't even have a wife."

Harry didn't even try to correct the man again, he just smiled and politely thanked him for waking him. When asked, Harry assured him he'd be able to get breakfast on his own and then walked up to his front door and stepped inside.

He barely had time to close the door before he was met by Winky. He was knocked to the ground, with the little elf crying and pounding on his chest before he knew what had hit him. When he looked up, he could see Gabrielle, looking a lot like any other woman, staring down at him, her eyes red with tears. "You're alright?" she asked quietly, and Harry nodded.

Gabrielle nodded and disappeared into the other room, leaving Harry to deal with an expressive house-elf. "Winky is thinking she made Master leave," she bawled into him, still pounding, though much weaker than when she'd started. "Winky is thinking Master is going to leave her, or make her life like Master Crouch did. Winky is very scared."

Harry couldn't help but feel stupid and he wrapped his arms around the little elf. "I'm sorry Winky," he said as remorsefully as possible. "I didn't mean to scare you, I just sort of dozed off while I was thinking about everything."

The elf quit beating him, but continued to bawl for several minutes until she was only sobbing dry tears. Harry let her go and picked her up, staring into her large eyes. "Winky, I would never hurt you, I'd never leave you, don't ever worry about that, alright?" he said. "Even if you get on my nerves sometimes, it's not going to make me turn against you."

Winky nodded mutely, and then sniffed. "Harry is wanting breakfast?" she asked tentatively. Harry smiled. "If you're up to it, then I'm about ready for it," he said and watched as Winky scurried away. If there was one-thing about house-elves that never changed, it would be that they loved work. Winky was going to be fine, and, if she got her mind off of it soon enough, she might forget it by tomorrow.

Looking down at his shirt, Harry shook his head. He needed to change, and shower, but he also needed to do something else first.

Walking down the hallway, Harry found Gabrielle had her bags opened, and nearly completely packed, which, considering how much she had, must have taken a considerable amount of time. More time than he'd been back. "What are you doing?" he asked, startling her.

She turned, and he could see she'd somehow regained some of her beauty, but looked a good deal less like a Veela still. "Packing," she said heavily. "I have decided I will stay in a hotel until I have found another place to live."

"And your money problems?" he asked.

She looked towards the ground. "I am sure that the banks around here will be able to tell me where I am to change currency."

"You're not going back then?" Harry asked. "To modeling. I would have though that you'd have given up much easier."

Gabrielle looked at him with a glare he'd never seen come from her, it was both exciting and scary. "I will not give up so easily Mr. Potter," she said resolutely. Harry almost laughed, he couldn't help but smile though. She was so strong-willed. Even most Veela's would have given up the prize by now, nothing was worth so much difficulty, or so they seemed to think.

"First, you still can call me Harry," he said lightly. "I don't think we've grown less acquainted with each other in the past few hours, have we?" Gabrielle lost the piercing stare, but continued to look at him without blinking. However, her eyes were of surprise now, instead of anger or resolution. "And, I noticed you were leaving without even giving notice, I didn't say you had to leave today, did I?" he asked. "It would be rude of you to leave and stay at some musty old hotel while there is a bed here for you until you've found a proper place."

"But..."

"No buts. You are staying here until you find somewhere else that suites your needs. I will not force you to leave because of some stupid comment I made in anger."

Gabrielle's face lit up and she jumped on Harry, who was able to keep himself upright as the Veela hugged him tightly. Repeatedly thanking him. This time, Harry didn't try to hide his emotions as he felt a warm bubbling feeling inside him. He did smile.


End file.
